The bars or handles on a burial casket in addition to serving a decorative purpose, are utilized during a burial service by pall bearers to lift the casket and transport it to the desired location either during the pre-burial service or to the place of burial. In this regard, the casket, with the body of the deceased, may weigh several hundred pounds, so that the bars may prove necessary to assist the pall bearers in moving the casket. These bars normally are held by a series of arms or brackets connected to the sidewalls of the casket. Burial casket bars of this type are generally a straight tubular member which extends from near one end to near the other end of each side of the burial casket. The arms which constitute the hardware for the bar could either be stationery or swing bar hardware. Typical prior art swing bar hardware is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,204,286 and 4,615,085.
The disadvantage with swing bar hardware systems currently being utilized as is typified in the above decorative lugs for each style of hardware which support and bear the load of the casket when lifted by the swing bar. This prior art requires expensive molds for each style lug which may be machine cast, slush cast or die cast eventually resulting in a lug which is expensive itself. In this regard heavy zinc members are generally used for swing bar hardware.
Another current system that possesses similar drawbacks is a steel stamped arm that is formed to shape with two tabs on each side. These tabs are inserted into slots and a semi-circular cut out in the lug. The tabs are clinched over the small bar between the slots and the semi-circular cut out. The hardware is attached to the casket with sheet metal screws.